For princesses who don't mind playing a little rough with the boys!

Made With Love… To Enjoy Later

Another of my favourite topics… FOOD!! So a couple of posts back, I talked about some ideas for food to bring with you when you go camping (RVing, road trips, etc; etc.). I have spent much time perusing the web and Pinterest for ideas for my own family, and I’ve narrowed it down to a few stand-bys. The crockpot is my absolute favourite tool when my family and I go on our camping trips. It is so handy and nearly anything can be adapted for the crockpot. Having said that, I thought I would share some of my recipes for things that I bring with us. Keep in mind, these recipes can be altered and ingredients swapped out according to your family’s likes and dislikes. My family doesn’t have any food allergies (although Tyler acts like he’s allergic to raw tomatoes), so pretty much anything goes with us!

So, for these recipes, my trick is to line the crockpot with a large zipper-topped bag, filling it, removing as much air as possible, and taking the crockpot with the bag still inside, and freezing it as is.

An alternate method is still filling the bag, but after removing the air, freezing it flat. This will make packing your cooler SO much easier, and as it thaws in the cooler, it will be able to mold to the shape of the crockpot.

Chili

When I’m at home, I make a huge pot (7qt) of chili, which I’ll make lunches with and freeze any extra for another time. When we camp, I have to downsize because the crockpot we bring is about half the size (3qt).

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Meatloaf

I cannot take credit for this recipe, it’s my mom’s, tried and true. I loved it so much as a kid, I begged her for the recipe when I moved out =) I know there are some bad meatloaf recipes out there, I assure you, this is NOT one of them.

I usually add the entire can of soup to mine, but the reason I have it divided in the recipe is because my mom would say I’m doing it wrong 😉 She adds half the soup to the mixture, and the other half goes on top of the meatloaf when it’s about 30 minutes from being done. I add it all because the meatloaf can be messy enough without doing this, adding it on top before freezing it would just be a bigger mess. I also never use the egg because the whole can of soup is usually enough to make it stick together well. Serve with potatoes cooked in foil in your fire. Serious yumminess.

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Buffalo Chicken Sandwiches

Oh my fellow moms, if there was ever an easy meal to make that fills you up, THIS IS IT. I like this recipe for that reason, as well as the fact that I’m able to sneak in some veggies and the kids don’t know!

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BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

If you’re not feeling so spicy, this is also delicious!

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Lasagna

If you’ve never had lasagna done in the crockpot, it’s a whole new world for you, my friends! I will warn you though… this MAY turn out better if you don’t make it ahead of time and freeze it. We did this one year and we found the lasagna was quite soggy, however, I’m not sure if it’s because of the oven-ready noodles, or if it was a combination of freezing it, having it thaw in the cooler, and then cooking it. It’s really quick and easy to make at the campsite, though, with minimal mess.

(You can right-click and save the image onto your computer, or left-click to save it as a .doc file on your computer.)

I do have other food ideas for you that don’t involve a crockpot, and will share them in a later post.